Snow Day

I'm not going to lie, the night before the storm was scheduled to hit, I may have done a snow dance.

I also may have instructed my students to do a snow dance.

I may have also told my atheist husband that baby Jesus wasn't going to let me down. Heck, he came through for me last time I desperately needed a snow day back in Victoria 2006.

I had a paper due. It wasn't done. We got 10 cm of snow and a whole lot of ice. Victoria shut down because the town has one snow plow.

My faith in God grew a little bit that day.

So, as my report cards are due in on Friday and a pile of marking still graced my desk, I really, REALLY needed a day to get all my crap done.

So, when I got up yesterday morning and turned on the news at 6:20 and discovered that TDSB school buses were cancelled but schools were still open, I may have said a bad word or two. I huffed off to the shower, got ready to go out and then checked the weather report one more time.

That's when I saw the magic words: Toronto District schools closed.

I didn't believe it for a good 5 more minutes, but all my teacher friends on facebook confirmed it. It was a snow day.

So, I crawled back into bed and cuddled my husband. When he crankily got up to go to work, I may have muttered something to the extent of "That's what you get for being an atheist" before nestling back down into the covers.

It's been a running joke all day.

As much as I would have liked to have spent the day in the kitchen cooking up a storm (no pun intended), I spent the day in the kitchen tackling the following piles:

Sometimes I hate teaching English. I have 110 students, all of whom I have to report on 4 different strands. It's the only bad part about the job really; I just haven't figured out how to mark that quickly.

So, as much as I wish I had a recipe to share with you today, I'm afraid I ate a couple of cookies, drank water (from the wine glass on the table), had two cups of coffee and powered through the marking.

Not very healthy, I know.

I'm proud to say I got all four of those piles finished though!

And, just for kicks:

I was asked these questions today:

Did you always want to be a teacher?

"No. I tried very hard to avoid it."

Then... why did you become one?

And I never know exactly how to answer that one. It feels like a trick question. Oh sure, I could give some stock answer about loving kids and enjoying the feeling of teaching. I COULD do that, but that wouldn't be the truth. That's an answer I reserve for teaching interviews.

And, I'm the kinda teacher that likes telling the truth. So, when students ask me that question, that's what I give them.

"Well, kids, it's because you entertain me to no end. What other job would I get to interact with 105 nutjobs in a day?"

And they'll nod, as though that makes perfect sense. 13 year olds have a much clearer understanding of the world than adults do.